Link has been redesigned to match his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. He can now pick up arrows he's fired, and his bombs have been upgraded to remote bombs, so you can set them off when the timing is just right!

Kengo Takanashi, Link’s voice actor from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, reprises his role in Ultimate with newly recorded voice clips, replacing Akira Sasanuma’s portrayal from Brawl and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

In Ultimate, Link's design is now based off his latest major game, Breath of the Wild. He now incorporates multiple elements from Breath of the Wild into his moveset, such as the Remote Bomb, the Ancient Bow & Ancient Arrow, and the Sword Beam. This has led to a much larger overhaul in his moveset than most other returning veterans, in which several of his attacks of been altered in knockback, range, lag, or have been completely reworked altogether. Most likely as a result, Link was granted a large number of buffs and nerfs in his transition to Ultimate, but has been buffed overall.

Compared to his previous iterations in Smash, Link has better close combat capabilities thanks to his faster movement speed, and the return of the Boomerang improves his ability to combo. Furthermore, Link's grab game has improved due to his now possessing a more standard grab; while the Hookshot and Clawshot in previous games granted Link a long-ranged grab, they were unsafe to use due to their starting and ending lag. Link gains benefit from the universal buffs, as he has improved combo potential due to the 3-frame jumpsquat buff, and the change to perform an attack out of any run helps Link quite well, which compliments his already above-average traction. The universal buffing of the landing lag of aerials in Ultimate have strengthened Link's close combat capabilities even further, with neutral aerial's weak hit allowing it to set-up for a grab at low percents, while back aerial's first hit now effectively serves as a KO setup at high percents.

Additionally, Link sports a longer Master Sword that matches its length in Breath of the Wild, noticeably increasing the range of Link's sword based attacks to a point that Link's range is now on par with other sword-based fighters such as Lucina or Ike; this, along with other adjustments made to these attacks, grant them new utility overall: Forward tilt is now much more effective at a ledge-trapping option due to its wider arc, up smash serves as a more threatening anti-air option, forward aerial is more effective as a spacing option while the first hit can now be used to start combos, up aerial catches airborne opponents from a father distance, and Spin Attack has increased reliability as an OoS option and KOing tool due to its faster start-up and larger sweet spot, and down tilt's reduced damage output allows the move to combo for much longer, even serving as a potential KO confirm at higher percents.

Link has gained a new down special in place of Bomb, known as the Remote Bomb from Breath of the Wild; with it, Link pulls out a Remote Bomb which he can then throw and later detonate using the Sheikah Slate, making it function more like Snake's C4 bombs. Compared to his old down special, the move has a much larger blast radius and greater KO power, significantly improving Link's edgeguarding and ledge trapping capabilities while also controlling a considerably larger amount of space in neutral. Not only that, but because the item can be thrown while only being detonated at command, Link now sports greater combo potential and pressuring with the bomb itself, utilizing it in various Z-drop set-ups. Lastly, the move possesses potential as a strong, albeit tough recovery option, as it can also be Z-dropped and detonated to launch Link a considerable distance forward.

However, Link is not without his fair share of nerfs. As a result of the several changes and alterations he received in his transition to Ultimate, he has inadvertently lost several key strengths that his previous incarnation possessed. While Link has a much faster grab than his precious incarnation, the loss of his Hookshot has effectively removed one of his more potent recovery options, and his overall grab range has been significantly worsened between games. The replacement of his down special has also hindered Link in a variety of ways: Link can no longer pull out bombs as a way to potentially break out of combos, his new bomb no longer explodes on impact, removing one of his effective KO set-ups, and compared to his old bombs, Link can only have one Remote Bomb out a time, resulting in it becoming a worse zoning option than his previous down special overall.

Link has also received hitbox reductions to several of his sword-based attacks, now mapping them strictly to the sword itself. While this does not necessarily affect the reach of his attacks that involve swinging his sword from the Y-Axis (i.e. forward tilt, up tilt, forward smash), it has reduced the vertical reach of his attacks that are swung from the Z-Axis (i.e. down tilt), while also hindering the horizontal range of his thrusting sword attacks (i.e. up aerial, down aerial), making them harder to land overall.

Lastly, despite improvements to his landing lag and Spin Attack, his already sluggish frame data as a whole has been further worsened: A considerable number of his attacks have either increased endlag (such as forward tilt or down tilt), or increased start-up lag (such as a down smash, forward smash, forward aerial, and neutral attack), making it even harder for him to defend himself up close against opponents with superior frame data, such as Mario or Fox. This requires Link players to be more wary when fighting opponents with such strong boxing capabilities, as his weaker frame data puts him at a greater risk of being thrown into a disadvantage state easier.

Overall, the changes to Link have repurposed his playstyle from that of a hard-hitting zoner, to one where he relies on his Remote Bomb and Boomerang for stage control and trapping in a similar manner to Snake, while also focusing on controlling the midrange playing field with his improved range. Because of this, Link has noticeably deviated from his counterparts in terms of his overall gameplan and how he enacts it. Though he had initially amassed very strong results in the early metagame of Ultimate, where he was represented by notable players such as Salem and Izaw, his results have somewhat diminished over time; as Ultimate's metagame would continue to progress, Salem would eventually drop him in favor of Snake, which has inadvertently led to a slowdown of noteworthy results. This has caused players who initially thought of him as a high/top tier character, such as Dabuz, Samsora and ESAM, to reassess their opinions of Link, as they now more or less view him as either a lower high tier character or an upper mid tier character. However, Link continues to see tournament success in Ultimate thanks to the efforts of Izaw and T, the latter of which has made noticeable placements at super-regionals and majors, including placing 17th at 2GG: Prime Saga, while also placing 2nd at Sumabato SP 5. This has lead to Link amassing an increasingly robust set of results that are arguably the strongest out of any of his previous incarnations overall, though how he fares compared to the rest of the cast is currently up for debate.

Link holds the Master Sword with his right hand and the Hylian Shield with his left. As a result, all of Link's animations have been horizontally flipped. He also has several altered animations, including a new idle pose with his legs positioned farther apart and his sword and shield held up at all times.

Link has a new side taunt where he holds the Master Sword in front of him with both hands while it glows, similar to one of Ike's taunts. This replaces his Fairy taunt from previous games, which has been given to Young Link.

Link's victory animation where he swings his sword then sheathes it now shows him swinging it back before sheathing it. He also faces away from the camera while doing it.

It has a new animation, starting from behind Link rather than from his front.

The sword no longer reaches the ground in front of Link and has altered Z-Axis placements (Z offset: 0u/0u → -2.5u/-5.5u), making it more difficult (or sometimes impossible) to hit short or crouching opponents.

The first hit shoots out a spinning Sword Beam as a projectile when Link is at 0% damage, in reference to multiple Zelda games where his sword shoots out beams when he is at full health. Charging forward smash increases the size, distance and damage of the projectile, dealing between 5% and 13% damage. This gives him a new long range option, while increasing the total damage of his forward smash at close range.

The first hit's innermost hitboxes have different angles (75°/55° → 69°/60°) and deal less knockback (47 base/15 scaling → 45/12), while the second hit has less startup (frame 12 → 10), allowing them to connect together more reliably.

The first hit launches at different angles (72°/68° → 73°/70°/66°), has a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.8×), deals different set knockback to grounded and aerial opponents (40 → 50 (grounded)/36 (aerial)), and uses weight-independent knockback. These changes allow it to connect more reliably into the second hit.

The second hit has less startup (frame 18 → 15), thus reducing the frame gap between hits.

The second hit has lower base knockback (70 → 45), but higher knockback scaling (70 → 98). This allows it to combo more reliably at low percents, while also significantly improving its KO potential, KOing middleweights at around 200% from the center of Final Destination.

The second hit has less active frames (frame 18-22 → 15-17). The move's total duration was also not compensated for the second hit's faster startup, increasing its ending lag.

The first hit has slightly smaller hitboxes (4.5u/4.8u/5u → 4u/4.5u/5u).

Down aerial has been reverted to possessing only a clean hit and late hit like in Brawl, with its early hit being removed. The clean hit remains mostly unchanged against grounded opponents, but meteor smashes aerial opponents like the early hit in Smash 4.

Because of this change, the move can KO grounded opponents much more reliably. The meteor smash against aerial opponents is also stronger, due to its knockback not being compensated for the clean hit's higher damage compared to the previous early hit.

Due to the removal of the early hit, down aerial can no longer combo into its bounce-off hit as effectively at higher percents, reducing its damage potential.

Because of this, all grabs have noticeably reduced startup (frame 12/14/15 (standing/dash/pivot) → 6/9/10) and ending lag (FAF 62/66/67 → 35/43/38), making them safer to use at close range, and allowing Link to set up into them more effectively.

However, all grabs have much shorter range, and their hitboxes have a shorter duration (6 frames (standing), 8 frames (dash, pivot) → 2 frames (all)).

Down throw has one frame less ending lag (FAF 50 → 49). Combined with Link's faster jumpsquat, this increases its combo potential.

It has drastically increased knockback scaling (85 → 125), KOing middleweights at around 250%. This further improves its combo potential at low to mid percents, but weakens its KO setups into up aerial at high percents.

Its speed is no longer weight-dependent. This improves its combo ability on heavyweights, but reduces it on lightweights.

Arrows fired have a bright tip, making them easier to track. Arrows will also become momentarily lodged in opponents' bodies.

The move has less startup (frame 18 → 16), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 47 → 45), improving its camping ability.

Arrows have higher knockback scaling (66 → 71).

Arrows that fail to hit an opponent will linger on the ground for a longer period of time, and can be picked up as throwable items. Arrows used in this way deal little damage and knockback, allowing them to set up combos. Using the Bow and Arrows while holding an arrow causes Link to fire two arrows at once for 1.5× as much damage.

Arrows can be picked up by opponents and thrown at Link.

Arrows can no longer be held indefinitely upon reaching full charge, now being fired automatically if held for more than three seconds.

Spin Attack has more vibrant graphics and generates a blue "slash" around Link. Link moves his arm while charging the move, and the Master Sword glints with light up to three times, referencing the three levels of charged attacks in Breath of the Wild. The grounded version is now an inward spin.

Link has separate voice clips for grounded and aerial Spin Attacks.

The grounded version has less startup (frame 8 → 7), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 78 → 77).

The spherical Remote Bomb from Breath of the Wild replaces Bomb as Link's down special. Rather than exploding on contact or after a short time, the Remote Bomb bounces off opponents and objects, and can be launched around by attacks (including Link's). It is detonated by inputting down special again, similar to Snake's C4. Alternatively, it detonates automatically after about 30 seconds. This changes up Link's item play and recovery tactics substantially.

Remote Bomb's 30 second fuse allows it to remain in play much longer than Bomb's 3.66 seconds.

The explosion has a significantly larger blast radius.

The explosion deals significantly higher knockback, improving its KO potential. It also launches opponents at a more horizontal angle, allowing it to edgeguard more effectively.

Remote Bomb's detonation has 12 frames of startup before it can damage the opponent. It also cannot be manually detonated if it is held by an opponent; if attempted, Link will try to generate another Remote Bomb, but this will fail and give him high ending lag.

Only one Remote Bomb can be on the field at a time, as opposed to two traditional Bombs.

The explosion damages Link even if opponents are caught within it.

The Remote Bomb itself deals less damage when hitting an opponent (5%/9% → 1%), since it no longer explodes on contact and cannot be detonated while held by the opponent.

Remote Bomb cannot be detonated while Link is helpless, preventing him from using his up special multiple times offstage. This hinders Link's vertical recovery.

However, in a similar vein to Snake's C4, Link can Z-drop and quickly detonate a Remote Bomb on himself to supplement his recovery, especially at higher percents due to its higher knockback.

While standing still, walking, or crouching, incoming projectiles that hit Link's Hylian Shield will deal no damage and simply push him back. It can block any amount of projectiles regardless of power.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

A downward slash, followed by an outward slash, then by an ascending slash. Has slow startup for a jab, but deals above-average damage, has good reach, and its third hit is a semi-spike with high base knockback, making it useful for tech-chasing and forcing opponents near edges offstage.

A lunging downward slash. It has noticeably slow startup for a tilt attack, but deals high damage and knockback for one in return, while possessing long range, the ability to hit opponents above and slightly behind Link, and only average ending lag that makes it safe on shield if spaced properly. This attack resembles the Z-Targeting slash used by the Link from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

An overhead arcing slash, starting from behind. Has good juggling potential from low to mid percents, comboing into itself depending on the victim's weight and falling speed, and decent KO potential at high percentages for its start-up.

The Jump Attack. It is one of the strongest dash attacks in the game, KOing at around 110% from center stage when sweetspotted. However, it also has very slow startup (hitting on frame 20) alongside high ending lag, making it very punishable if whiffed or used recklessly.

A two-handed, lunging downward slash. If the attack button is pressed again, Link will perform a single-handed outward slash. The first hit deals respectable damage and knockback at the blade's tip, but only deals half as much damage with much lower knockback when not tipped; however, the non-tipped hit is a natural combo into the second slash. Extremely powerful when both hits connect, being one of the strongest forward smashes in the game. If Link is at 0% damage, the first swing will launch a projectile.

A series of three overhead arcing slashes, the last one which launches opponents away. Has average startup, covers a wide range, deals high damage and can KO under 100%, but has high ending lag. The third hit deals more damage the closer opponents are to the tip of the Master Sword.

A kneeling inward slash in front of himself, followed by a kneeling outward slash behind himself. The first hit launches opponents at a vertical trajectory, and can KO at around 100% uncharged with the strongest hitbox. The second hit is a semi-spike that has high base knockback, making it effective near edges, but deals less damage and overall knockback than the first hit.

A flying kick. It is a sex kick with relatively low startup, ending and landing lag. One of Link's most useful moves overall, as it lets him escape pressure, is safe on shield with proper timing, and can even lock and combo into other moves on landing especially with the late hit, a notable followup being dash attack as a KO setup at high percents.

Two alternating, spinning outward slashes. The first hit has weak knockback in order to connect into the second hit, which deals high enough knockback to be one of Link's most reliable KO options. The move deals high damage if both hits connect, and due to its low landing lag and long range, it is also safe on shield move with proper spacing and timing. However, its slow startup, high ending lag and inability to autocancel before it can be interrupted leave it easy to punish if overused.

A hook kick followed by a mid-level roundhouse kick. Link's fastest aerial, coming out on frame 5, and has low ending and landing lag, allowing it to combo into itself at low percents. The first hit can also set up various attacks on landing, including an up tilt, up smash, or most notably, a Spin Attack, the last two of which can serve as KO setups at high percents.

The Up Thrust. It is quite powerful when clean and has a long lasting hitbox that is difficult to dodge, making it an effective KOing and juggling option. However, it has moderate startup, coming out on frame 11, can only autocancel in a full hop if done near the start, and leaves Link highly vulnerable from other positions due to its long duration.

The Down Thrust. Upon hitting a target without fast falling, Link bounces off them and can then hit them a second time, albeit dealing less damage. The clean hit is a powerful meteor smash against aerial targets, while also dealing high knockback to grounded targets, KOing them at around 125%. Like up aerial, the move has very long lasting hitboxes, which along with its disjointed range make it useful for contesting attacks from below and intercepting recoveries offstage. However, due to its very long duration, high landing lag and inability to autocancel even in a full hop, it is Link's most committal aerial.

Raises the opponent overhead and slashes them upward. Has relatively high knockback growth, which allows it to KO around 170% without rage. Against bystanders, it is a weak semi-spike with a sourspot at the base of the Master Sword; the thrown opponent is always hit by the sweetspot.

Wields the Traveler's Bow and fires an arrow forward. Charging increases the arrow's speed, distance and damage output; at full charge, the arrow flies almost completely straight and covers a very long distance. Good for gimping recoveries and pressuring opponents from afar. Upon hitting the ground or a wall, the arrows also linger for a while before disappearing, during which they can be picked up and thrown as items. If Link uses this move with an arrow picked up, he will fire two arrows at once, greatly increasing the damage dealt to opponents.

Throws a Boomerang, which flies forward and then returns to Link. On the way forward, it launches enemies vertically with high base knockback, and on the way back, it launches them towards Link with weaker knockback, allowing it to set up combos. It can be angled up or down, and inputting it like a smash attack increases its damage, as well as the distance it can travel.

A spinning, outward slash. Much like in the The Legend of Zelda series, it is a powerful attack, and can be charged on the ground for even higher damage and knockback. Conversely, an aerial Spin Attack is a series of spinning, inward slashes and is Link's primary recovery move, covering respectable vertical distance, but minimal horizontal distance. The grounded version is a fast out of shield option and decays on damage over time, KOing at around 120% uncharged with the strongest hit, while the aerial version deals up to 5 hits and can KO reliably near edges.

Pulls out a Remote Bomb, which can be thrown as an item. After throwing it, using the move again has Link detonate the Remote Bomb with his Sheikah Slate, creating a large blue explosion. The Remote Bomb has a maximum duration of about 30 seconds before detonating automatically, and can be knocked back by attacks, which also causes it to damage opponents in range. The Remote Bomb's throw deals low damage and knockback, but its explosion is significantly more powerful, having enough knockback to KO at around 180% from center stage with no rage. The explosion hurts Link as well if he is in range, which has its pros and cons; while being detrimental to him if he detonates the Remote Bomb with opponents too close to him, it also gives him a useful bomb recovery, especially at high percents.

Wields the Ancient Bow and fires an Ancient Arrow straight forward, which explodes upon impact with the nearest opponent in its line of fire. It deals low damage compared to other Final Smashes, but has high KO potential.

Up Taunt : Swings the Master Sword twice and twirls it behind him before sheathing it. It is very similar to his victory pose in Twilight Princess, which he performs after learning a Hidden Skill or defeating a boss/particularly difficult enemies.

Side Taunt: Holds the Master Sword in front of him with both hands as it glows blue, then puts it aside. Similar to one of Ike's taunts.

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Spring 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from February 1st, 2019 to July 7th, 2019.

Each character can be unlocked by clearing Link's Classic Mode, or the Classic Mode of any preceding character, if all preceding characters have been unlocked. Once all the above characters are unlocked, clearing Classic Mode with any of them will default to Mario's character unlock tree, starting with Sonic.

Link was among the fighters summoned to the cliffside to fight the army of Master Hands.

Link was present on the cliffside when Galeem unleashed his beams of light. Link successfully deflected three beams of light with his Hylian Shield (staying true to the shield's unbreakable nature), but he lost his footing on the third blow, and was vaporized and placed under Galeem's imprisonment along with the rest of the fighters (excluding Kirby).

Link is unlocked near a Sheikah Tower when taking the Villager route. The player must defeat Don's spirit to access his unlock battle.

Link's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Link in World of Light allows the player to preview the second spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, various incarnations of Link make an appearance in various Primary and Support Spirits.

Ultimate marks the first time in the Smash series where Link does not wear his trademark green tunic as his default outfit, as well as the first time Link no longer has his Goron and Zora tunics from Ocarina of Time as his respective red and blue alternate costumes. His new red and blue costumes are based on armor sets from Breath of the Wild - the Hylian Tunic and the Royal Guard Uniform, respectively.

Ironically, Link's Champion's Tunic cannot be dyed in Breath of the Wild despite being the base for four of his costumes in Ultimate. His Hero of the Wild set can be dyed, but the colors used for the other four costumes based on this outfit are not possible in Breath of the Wild.

Despite being recolored versions of the Hero of the Wild outfit, neither his Fierce Deity nor his Twilight Princess-inspired costumes appear to expose his knees. This is in line with how both outfits appear in their respective Zelda games. Additionally, if one views him wearing these costumes during gameplay, then one can tell that his trousers were indeed lengthened due to the appearance of seams and other fabric detail and not just simply recoloring his legs.

Link's Skyloft-based alternate costume (now a white recolor of his Champion's Tunic) is the only one of his eight costumes in this game that does not appear in Breath of the Wild.

Ultimate is the first Smash game where Link does not use a tether; however, his doppelgängers Young Link and Toon Link still use one.

This is the first game where Link is no longer left-handed, matching Breath of the Wild; this resulted in multiple animation changes.

Ironically, despite Ultimate claiming to have brought back every single character in the Smash franchise, even those who were cut from Brawl and SSB4, Link and Zelda are the only two characters in the game who are technically still "cut" from Ultimate, due to them both being portrayed as different characters throughout both the Zelda and Smash franchises, despite the two both sharing the same name. As a result, in a sense, only their names were kept.

In the E3 demo of the game, Link's portrait used his in-game model instead of his official artwork. This was also the case for Mario, Pikachu and Villager.

Coincidentally, all four of these characters were playable in the Super Smash Bros. for 3DS demo.

Link is ranked #3 on Ultimate's roster, which is coincidentally the same number of playable Links in the game as well as the same number of pieces in the Triforce, as well as the number of sides of a triangle.

Ultimate marks the first time in which any incarnation of Link (including Young Link and Toon Link) has new voice clips recorded for Smash as opposed to reused ones from the Zelda series.

While Link's Smash series amiibo is based on his SSB4 appearance and does not match his Ultimate design, he possesses an amiibo in the Breath of the Wild line that matches his incarnation in Ultimate (despite possessing different weapons) and is identical to his Fighter Spirit.

One of Link's Tip's talks about how Link's name is only in five titles in the series, and that one is trickier to remember than the others. These games are Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: A Link To the Past, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and the one that is "trickier to remember" being Link's Crossbow Training.

Link appears in the least amount of Spirit Battles out of all the starting characters with a current total of 9.

Conversely, Link is the most common opponent for Classic Mode routes, as he appears in 19 different routes, mostly in his dark alternate costume.

Despite his Twilight Princess incarnation (which based his designs in Brawl and SSB4) being retired after this game, the Twilight Princess version of Link still makes an appearance in Ultimate as a spirit, although in his Wolf form.

Marketing for Ultimate depicts Link as a mascot of the game alongside Mario with roughly equal status for the first time in the series; for instance, Mario and Link were the two most prominent veterans teased for the game in March 2018, they are the two most prominent characters on the "Everyone is Here" cast artwork, and were shown on interstitial screens to represent the game at EVO 2019.

The only cases in which Link does not share prominence with Mario are the How to Play video (depicting Mario and Bowser as has been tradition), the Controls menu (due to the fact that only one character is used to test controls), and Adventure Mode: World of Light (as Mario is the first required unlock while Link can be skipped over, although Kirby is the mode's de facto starter character). While Mario is marginally more prominent on the boxart for Ultimate, it still depicts him and Link as a mascot duo.

Interestingly, although Link has a new side taunt, an unused model of the fairy from his previous side taunt remains in his character files.[2]